Whether deforestation results from logging or from conversion of forest land to
agriculture, one of its costs is the loss of the natural biodiversity of forest plants
and animals. Further loss of forests and their embodied biodiversity is inevitable
in many Pacific islands. Countering this bleak scenario are possibilities to protect
and increase “agrobiodiversity” in agricultural, village, and urban landscapes
even though those landscapes, too, are often now undergoing simplification and
degradation. It is suggested that the process of “incremental agroforestry”—
defined as the systematic protection and enrichment of arboreal biodiversity
within the context of existing agricultural landscapes—would complement the
laudable international and local initiatives to protect biodiversity in indigenous
forests and benefit communities that depend on humanized biodiversity for their
economic and cultural well-being.